Meath GAA discussion thread

sheroman01 · 03-12-2022 5:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119952761#Comment_119952761

I know this is a bit trivial at this stage but why the hell was Castletown's match played in Wexford?! Home advantage in a Leinster championship final is madness.

Hammer Archer · 03-12-2022 7:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119953009#Comment_119953009

Both finals today were in Wexford Park. The junior and intermediate championships are always played on a home and away basis. Trims final next week is in Aughrim against Bray while their football final last year was in Navan. Our intermediate final against Athlone was in Mullingar. It's decided which side of the draw has home advantage when the draws are made.

sheroman01 · 03-12-2022 7:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119953354#Comment_119953354

Thanks, didn't know that. It's mad and grossly unfair though isn't it? Like it's the second biggest match you'll play at club level, and it's not at a neutral venue. Am I in the minority for thinking that's mad haha?

Hammer Archer · 03-12-2022 8:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119953375#Comment_119953375

I suppose it is a bit strange. No idea what the thinking behind it is. May be because it's the middle of winter and other county boards may be reluctant to open their pitches up to intermediate and junior clubs of other counties. Though I remember back when these competitions were in their infancy, the finals were sometimes played in one of the clubs' home grounds. Our 2004 Leinster junior final against Kilclonfert was played in Ratoath.

CrabRevolution · 03-12-2022 8:57pm

It's been like that for the 15+ years the competitions have been run. I think if it was a major issue it'd have been changed by now.

Castletown can consider themselves lucky if anything; I remember Longwood playing their Leinster JFC Final in Longwood, never mind Páirc Tailteann...

Hammer Archer · 22-12-2022 1:44pm

David Brady stepping down as Ratoath manager with Kevin Reilly rumoured to be appointed as his replacement.

rpurfield · 22-12-2022 6:08pm

Good appointment if its true Hammer, did David Brady get a job in England or something?

Hammer Archer · 24-12-2022 11:31am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120026140#Comment_120026140

No idea on the location. Not living in the area anymore so don't have as much involvement anymore. But by all accounts, it was David Brady who made the decision to step down for work reasons.

Pat Flanagan lasts 4 days as Bracks manager, steps down for "personal reasons" only for him to pop up as Sarsfields manager in Kildare a few days later.

rpurfield · 24-12-2022 11:44am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120030994#Comment_120030994

The Bracks Twitter call out was brilliant. He’s obviously thought he’d get a better volunteering experience in Sarsfields.

dixiefly · 08-01-2023 12:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120030994#Comment_120030994

Kevin Reilly can now be put into the same bracket as Pat Flanagan. Committing to a team for the year and then retracting it. Clubs are going to have to be forced to formally declare the money that they are paying these guys. Once its over a certain base amount it should be declared.

It's supposed to be an amateur sport. I have no problem with managers getting expenses etc but poaching like looks to have happened in the case of Reilly and Flanagan should not be happening.

This is it · 08-01-2023 12:41pm

Any more information on it? All I can see is a Meath Chronicle article from late November where Reilly stepped down, Brady was still in place at that stage though there was speculation, in the same article, that he might step down.

CrabRevolution · 12-01-2023 12:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120081230#Comment_120081230

Reilly didn't commit to Trim for 2023 though, he quit a few months ago.

rpurfield · 13-01-2023 2:24pm

Reilly left Trim when Brady was still with Ratoth, I'm at a loss here now

Hammer Archer · 13-01-2023 5:32pm

Yeah comparing a manager coming into a new club, meeting the players only to jump ship 4 days to a manager who stayed with a club for years, left in November and joined a new club in January is a bit bizarre.

rpurfield · 14-01-2023 6:27pm

Shelf life for most managers now only seem to be a year or two as well. It is a big commitment I suppose. While we are on about managers has anyone heard if the Cilles have anyone in yet.

dixiefly · 14-01-2023 7:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120097790#Comment_120097790

Kevin Reilly had committed to Trim for 2023. He quit AFTER Ratoath were knocked out by the Downs. Timing was very close but there had been rumours that Brady was on a one year term and that the decision had already been made that he was finishing then. Kevin’s leaving Trim was very abrupt and unexpected.

Just because DB leaving Ratoath wasn’t announced doesn’t mean that the decision had not been made. Reilly said that he didn’t think that Trim would be competitive in 2023 - while players were leaving they were also sitting in the under 20 final at the time.

I don’t know for sure of course but there were strong rumours straight away the he was going to Ratoath - which have proven to be correct. Kevin got well in Trim and would have wanted to manage the message - hence the delay in the announcement.

dixiefly · 14-01-2023 7:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120104036#Comment_120104036

Kevin was with Trim for 2 years to be exact. Years implies well more than that.

Kevin’s joining of Ratoath was announced in January - that doesn’t mean that a deal was not done quite a while back. Whether he had actually shaken hands on the deal or not dont be so naive as to think that discussions and approaches could not have been made in advance of him leaving.

Anyway Ratoath got their man and it will be interesting so see if that brings them further on this year.

CrabRevolution · 20-01-2023 12:53pm

I see in the fixture planner the Premier 3-9 are to be finished before the rest of the championships even start.

Does any other county in Ireland play their lower grades before they start the main grades, so that players can play both?

dobman88 · 20-01-2023 1:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120133616#Comment_120133616

It's one of the reasons I've stopped playing. Last year, all our league fixtures.got postponed because of the weather. Then we went straight into P7 championship and didn't win a single game. Then our league started after it but teams pulled out due to 1st team championship being on so we only played 2 games.

No reason why we can't play league alongside senior leagues and start our championship at the same time also. The amount of drop outs we're experiencing is very high because of it.

It's mind boggling tbh.

CrabRevolution · 20-01-2023 2:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120133916#Comment_120133916

Last year our club fielded a 4th team for young lads, old lads and the...less talented. They played against a Junior club's 2nd team in the Premier and we got utterly hockeyed. "Fair enough" we thought, "2nd vs. 4th is always going to be a struggle, and from the looks of it the other club have a very good 2nd team".

A few weeks later our 2nd team played the same club's 1st team in the League. They beat us then too, but the most noticeable thing was at least 10 of their starting 1st team had played against our 4th team in the Premier. Skip a few weeks forward again after the JFC had started and the same 2nd team which slaughtered us was losing their games. Almost as though their legit 2nd team wasn't quite as good...

Why should our 4th team players bother playing this year if they know that despite being placed in the lowest division possible, they will be playing clubs fielding most of their best players?

Now I know people will dismiss this as "Oh big clubs just don't want the poor craytur junior clubs to get a bone thrown their way. This lets them field 2 teams and keep the community alive", but the long term consequences could prove damaging.

dobman88 · 20-01-2023 5:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120134084#Comment_120134084

Yep. Pretty much the exact same scenario for me and the 4th team I play for. Its supposed to be social football for lads like me who are past it and not very good, and also to keep the minors playing and get their 1st taste of adult football. But instead we get hammered by loaded teams who can't compete with their "actual" 2nd/3rd team.

Cavan_King · 21-01-2023 4:33pm

Watched Meath and Donegal in a challenge today down here in Cavan. Meath won. Looked the better team and both had strong sides out throughout. They played 3 thirty minutes. Donal Lenihan looked decent.

rpurfield · 22-01-2023 7:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120133616#Comment_120133616

The logic seems to be for the smaller numbers in clubs. Junior B and I think Junior (open to correction there) only need to name 8 that cant play second team so it allows these clubs to give some lads games that may not make the first 15. It does however mess around the bigger clubs with three or four teams so a balance needs to be found. Last year Clonard had a team in Premier 9 with our third team. If memory serves they got to a semi final in it and gave a walkover as the first team started then and they hadn't the players ( turned out they didn't have them for the first team either).

A balance needs to be struck that lads can go get regular football at every grade. As Dobman said the lower Premier grades are ideal for bringing lads through that may need a bit of time and space to develop at adult level. Running off Premier 3-9 that early isn't the answer.

windy shepard henderson · 22-01-2023 10:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120138916#Comment_120138916

how do meath look fitness wise , i feel in the last few years their conditioning has been poor , it really was the reason for their exit from the championship last year because they have really good footballers

Cavan_King · 24-01-2023 8:57am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120143898#Comment_120143898

Difficult to tell in an early season challenge to be honest. Donegal would be well conditioned and Meath looked the better of the two teams but again, it’s a pre season challenge.

The We Are Cavan podcast had an interview with Kevin Egan who covers alot of Midlands and Leinster football (Offaly man living in Roscommon).

Interesting to hear his opinion that Andy McEntee performed well to keep Meath in Division 2 in with the players they had.

Hammer Archer · 29-01-2023 5:13pm

Wasn't expecting anything from today but that was an impressive second half showing. Poor in defence but that was to be expected with the team that started. But 3-14 in any game is a good return. Shane Walsh for the first time in a Meath shirt showed the talent that he has.

Great to get an away win on the board. Home to Clare next week which will hopefully be a shot at revenge from last year.

windy shepard henderson · 29-01-2023 8:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120173977#Comment_120173977

it looks like ye are going in the right direction , we have stalled from last year , when we won in ennis we had 12 wides 12 scores , today against louth nothing different , 14 wides 13 scores i reckon ye lads will push hard for a promotion place under o'rourke this year , looked good today in front of goal

rpurfield · 30-01-2023 2:12pm

Really didn't expect a result yesterday, more hopeful of a good performance so it was a pleasant suprise. We still look a bit open at the back but hopefully McGill will be back soon and that will help. It may also be down to the adjustment in personnel and system. Shane Walsh was superb too, best bit of work O'Rourke has done so far getting him to stay on, the talk was he was talking some time out.

mcgragger · 31-01-2023 9:03am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120102992#Comment_120102992

That's just wrong

The whole club was geared around planning for 2023 with him.

His exit was not foreseen and was quite disappointing

60k is the figures we've heard.

Hammer Archer · 01-02-2023 3:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120180746#Comment_120180746

But it's true. Brady was still in charge at Ratoath when Reilly left.

And it's a big difference between a manager being in charge of a team for 2 years and stepping down after the end of the season and a brand new manager rocking up, meeting players for the first time, outlining plans etc. only to high tail it 4 days later.

And I've heard those figures being bandied about too. Doesn't mean they're anywhere close to being accurate.

Meath GAA discussion thread

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